Published: April 17, 2009 11:09 pm      

Westwood coaches pleased with district

By SCOTT TYLER

Sports Editor



Westwood boys and girls track coaches Steven Skinner and Mike Holder were pleased by what they saw from their respective teams during the District 20-3A track meet Thursday at Fairfield High School.

The Westwood boys finished third in the district race behind Crockett and Palestine.

“We are a little disappointed that we did not win the district title, but the ultimate goal is to continue the year and get as many to regionals,” Skinner said. “The district title is just for bragging rights and Crockett and Palestine have good track teams.”

The top three finishers in each district event advance to the regional meet, which is May 1 and 2 at Humble High School.

Westwood got off to a good start in Wednesday’s field events finals, getting 55 points.

The Panthers took one and three in the discus with Sam Dunnam winning gold with a toss of 144-0 and Bud Brown finishing third with a throw of 120-4.

In other field events, Domanick Turner finished second in long jump with a leap of 21-6 1/4 and Brad Cummins took third in the pole vault with a distance of 11-0.

Also on Wednesday, Kyle Carroll and John Almarez took second and third in the 3200.

“I thought we had a chance at one to get through in the 3200 so that was a nice surprise,” Skinner said. “I thought we had a pretty good Day One.”

The second day did not start well as Westwood dropped the baton in the 400 relay and did not finish. The race may have put Westwood out of contention for the district title.

“It is the second straight year we did not get the stick around in the sprint relay,” Skinner said. “After that, it was hard to try and get back.”

Despite the setback in for a run at the district title, Westwood had a strong showing the rest of the meet.

The Panthers advanced their other two relay teams — the 800 and 1600 — which both took third place.

Westwood got two runners to regionals in the 800 with Desmone Williams winning the event and Carroll taking third.

“It was a bonus to get both in,” Skinner said of the 800. “Desmone has come a long way and he has matured a whole year since the first of track season to now.”

Cameron Shead will head back to regionals in both hurdles as he took second place in the 110 hurdles (15.6) and second place in the 300 hurdles (40.8).

“Cameron ran real well in the hurdles,” Skinner said.

Ryan Mackie also qualified for regionals taking third place in the 400 and Almarez took third place in the 1600.

For the Westwood girls, Holder came into the district meet hoping for his team to get between 92 to 100 points. The Lady Panthers did a little better, finishing in third place with 101 1/2 points.

“I was extremely pleased with how we did, especially since we have seven freshmen on the team,” Holder said. “We overachieved and we ran some of the fastest times we have had all year.”

Jazmine Hicks had success Wednesday in the field events, winning both the long jump and the triple jump. Hicks had a jump of 17-4 in the long jump and 37-8 1/2 in the triple jump.

“Jazmine has been jumping real well all year,” Holder said. “She is much stronger this year and she is going into the regional meet with one of the top triple jump distances.”

Hicks also was a part of Westwood’s two relay teams, including the 400 relay team which edged Crockett by less than a tenth of a second to take third and reach regionals.

The 800 relay team took third place, topping Athens by more than a second to qualify for regionals.

Along with Hicks, the two relay teams consisted of Adrienne Williams, Kiera Williams, Alex El-cassabgui and Desiree Brown, who is the alternate.

After not having any relays run last year, Westwood gets two into regionals this year.

“We came into both relays hoping to get third and get to regionals,” Holder said. “We had two freshmen and two sophomores running the relays and I still feel they have not gotten to their full potential.”

In individual events, Adrienne Williams was second in 100 hurdles with a time of 17.4 and Keira Williams finished third in the long jump with a distance of 16-0 1/2.

In the long distance races, Jasmine McDaniel took second in the 1600 with the time of 6:14.3 and Randi Bernas also qualified for regionals, taking third place in the 3200 with a a time of 13:49.2.

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Scott Tyler may be contacted via e-mail at styler@palestineherald.com